Taking every precious day as it comes

accessibility

The world is closing in around us. Around my son, his siblings, and me.

My children are all growing up so fast. I can hardly believe Benjamin is four – he’ll be starting school next year. My eldest is already a grown-up P1 girl and loving it. And my littlest is walking, running, and jumping with boundless energy. As a mother, I’m moving out of the cloistered new-born weeks for the final time. The world should be opening up with opportunities for all of us.

Pleased with his new shoes

Benjamin is doing spectacularly well. I won’t bore you any more with the medical interventions we’ve employed which have got us to this point. We’re just so chuffed to see him putting on weight, and length, and developing a personality (even if that is characterised by pretending to be asleep to get out of things he doesn’t want to do). I’ve had to ask for a new chair, a new stander, a new wheelchair, and new shoes – and I’m immensely grateful to have been supplied with these without question. He needs bigger nappies and that means a trip to Primark (no expense spared!) for bigger trousers. We are even starting to think about having to hoist him to protect our backs.

We’ve moved on from ‘He won’t survive his birth,’ and ‘He’ll likely not see his second birthday,’ through ‘He’ll be in and out of hospital until he’s five,’ to the gobsmacking (in a good way) pronouncement of our consultant last week: ‘He may well remain stable until he hits puberty.’ This is amazing! Every extra day with Benjamin is a bonus – so the prospect (fingers crossed, touch wood) of years more smiles and cuddles is just a dream come true. And this new-found, hard-earned, and still-surprising health should pave the way for him to get out and about in the world.

But. The world is closing in around us. Because the world isn’t built for us. Let me go back to the hoists. This might sound like a small change – but actually it’s a massive leap. The transition from lifting to hoisting is a tipping point. It marks the end of being able to take Benjamin anywhere, in a backpack, baby carrier, or buggy, to being limited to places that are wheelchair accessible and – if we stay for more than a few hours – have a bathroom with a bench and hoist. My mother-in-law has kindly invited us to holiday with them next summer – but by next summer I don’t even know what kind of accommodation we would be able to stay in. Certainly it won’t be long before we’ll have to pay over-the-odds for a wheelchair-adapted room or cottage.

Now toilets really aren’t the focus of this post, but they are a good marker of how inclusive and accessible our country really is: and there are only just over 1000 fully accessible Changing Places toilets that Benjamin can use in the UK (that’s roughly one every 90 square miles. That’s fewer than half the number of toilets in Wembley Stadium, as Our Inclusive Homeso tellingly pointed out). Finally, thanks to the efforts of an incredibly dedicated band of campaigners, Changing Places did hit the mainstream news in recent weeks, and have been discussed everywhere from Facebook to the Houses of Parliament. But is this going to lead to change? Ikea and Wetherspoons are leading the way. Center Parcs are following suit. Yet most of the major supermarkets, cinemas, and department stores couldn’t give a ****, or so it seems.

Getting out and about

So, the world is closing in around us, because if we want to go out with Benjamin we are very soon going to be limited to those 1000-odd places, including Ikea and Wetherspoons of course, so at least we can get a beer and some ödmjuk… Soon, our children’s grandparents are going to have to come to us if they want to see us, because we won’t be able to get Benjamin into their houses. I can’t imagine we’ll be able to camp for much longer. The number of friends we’ll be able to visit will become vanishingly small. I won’t be able to take Benjamin to try on those trousers in Primark, or to the cinema, on a long train journey, or to the zoo.

I’m readjusting my already readjusted life plan. In good ways – thinking about where Benjamin will go to secondary school – and in ways I’m not so sure about, like installing a modern wet-room in our characterful Victorian house, like wondering whether I’ll ever, realistically, go back to travelling the world for work. And I’m readjusting for my daughters too. I need to get them used to the long-term idea of having a disabled brother. Undoubtedly they will miss out on childhood activities – holidays abroad, camping trips, family hikes, even family days out on our local beach. Will Benjamin become a millstone around their necks when I am gone?

I have so many questions now. How will society treat Benjamin when he’s no longer a cute little boy, when he’s a hairy, hormonal teenager, or a grumpy old man? What on earth will he do all day when he leaves formal education? How much of an environmental impact do decades of disposable nappies have and is it worth fighting for an alternative? Will he get PIP when he turns 16? And, what if I die before him?

I don’t have the answers. I do know that these are not really questions about Benjamin but questions about society. Any problems we might face over the coming years are not because of Benjamin and his disabilities, but because we live in a world that values profit and popularity over people, that pays lip-service to equality but neglects to make reasonable adjustments towards inclusion, that celebrates diversity but assumes the only purpose of prenatal testing is to facilitate the eradication of ‘diseases’ such as Downs Syndrome.

To those who would say, ‘We warned you. You asked for this. You knew at 38 weeks what was coming. You had the chance to avoid all this so don’t come running to us complaining about the impact on your daughters and asking for a bench and hoist….’ No. NO. The value of my son’s life has nothing to do with the impact he has on anyone else’s. Nothing, nada, zilch. However many days, weeks, years we are blessed with, his life is 100% worthwhile. He has a right to life and a right to live life to the full, and it’s up to us – all of us – to make it work.

Here’s to the next four years and beyond

But do I have to go out when it’s snowing, mum?

So if I’m going to have to write a few more letters (Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh Zoo, Dobbies, you’ll be hearing from me again), if I’m going to have to host a few more Christmas dinners rather than travelling to others’, if my daughters are going to learn first-hand the value of neuro-diversity instead of biodiversity, sobeit. We are, a thousand times over, the fortunate ones. We have three beautiful children, and the longer we get to spend in their presence the more blessed we are. I will cherish every minute, be grateful for every day, and fight for everything that is right. We’re in it for the long haul.

Like this:

This post was written for the #SEND30daychallenge, day 7: ‘Five things you’d change.’ We are so fortunate to live in Scotland, where there are really very few things that need to be changed so that Benjamin, and children like him, can live a safe, healthy, and happy life for as long as their biology and neurology allows them. Benjamin has many of the things that any child has a right to: shelter, food, water, sleep, love, healthcare, an education. He has these in abundance. But there are still things that Benjamin misses out on due to his special needs. Some of these are already changing; some of them need to change much faster. Here are the five things I would change for Benjamin at the moment:

Freedom from infection. Benjamin’s body – in particular his brain, stomach and lungs – is not as good at fighting infection as other children’s. If he gets a fever, it might cause a life-threatening seizure. If he gets a stomach bug, it can cause his entire digestive system to shut down and his pancreas and bowel to become inflamed. If he gets a cold, he frequently needs to be given oxygen to support his lungs. Any minor illness can put him in hospital for anything from one night to several weeks. Yet, still in this country parents flout the 48 hour rule that is designed to stop stomach bugs from spreading. Still, parents treat chickenpox as a minor illness. Still, people refuse to vaccinate their children, increasing the reservoir of infectious diseases to which Benjamin is subjected. If I could keep Benjamin in a bubble, I would. But that would not be beneficial to his growth and development, so I rely on other parents being responsible, thinking of others, putting childrens’ health above their convenience. The first thing I would change would be the culture that makes this so hard to do.

The ability to just pitch up and go on public transport. We have our car, which is great, but with a really fast rail link between us and our nearest city, it would be lovely to just be able, spontaneously, to hop on a train and go in to Edinburgh for a spot of shopping, to the movies, out to lunch, with Benjamin. Instead, we have to decide which trains we will be travelling there and back on – so no last minute decision to stay late – and book assistance and a ramp 24 hours in advance. So much for spontaneity! With trams and some buses wheelchair-accessible without assistance, it would be brilliant if our railways could move in that direction too.

Even this little train was more accessible than the East Coast mainline

Privacy and dignity when going to the toilet. Benjamin is nearly four years old, and weighs twenty kilos. He is still in nappies, and will be for the rest of his life. He is fast getting towards the limit of what a standard baby changing table will take, if not in weight then definitely in length. We are also getting towards the limit of what our backs can safely lift out of a wheelchair and onto the floor of an ‘accessible’ toilet – if we really wanted our beautiful boy to be laid on a place where people stand to pee, a place often wet, a place with too little space to kneel beside him, a place where most people wouldn’t even put their handbag! Yet few (less than a thousand in the UK) large venues, such as shopping centres, transport hubs, and cinema complexes, have something as simple as a changing place (a toilet with a bench and hoist), so we will soon be unable to use them with Benjamin. Our alternatives are becoming limited to changing him on the floor, changing him in the boot of the car, or allowing him to sit in his own waste. If we want Benjamin to have privacy and dignity, he’ll have to stay at home. In the twenty-first century, that can’t be right, can it? If you’d also like to see this change, please sign the petition here.

The chance to play with other children during the holidays. Benjamin loves going to his special needs nursery during term-time. It’s a brilliant environment, the staff are amazing, and he has friends there. During the holidays, all that is denied to him because the one-to-one health provision that he needs in order to attend nursery isn’t available. He’s stuck at home with me, which is boring for him and guilt-inducing for me! Across the country, the lack of suitable holiday provision for children with complex needs, or profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) is sadly consistent. Children lose their stimulation and impetus, their friends and fun, parents could lose their jobs. Equality shouldn’t stop during the holidays.

Access to the natural environment. Benjamin loves to watch the sunlight flickering through the leaves in a woodland. He loves to feel the sea breeze on his face. We are fortunate to live near several beautiful beaches – but sadly very few are accessible to Benjamin (although there are now a couple of brilliant beach wheelchair schemes at the larger resorts). There are steep steps, narrow bridges, soft sand, and overgrown paths. I know we can’t expect to be able to take him everywhere, but I would one day love to be able to take him to the beach.

Maybe better wait until low tide though…

These are just a few of the things I would like to change – and that I think are changeable. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that I skipped the #SEND30DayChallenge Day 6: ‘A letter to the Prime Minister.’ I’m sorry, Ms May, but frankly, yesterday I was stumped. I had no confidence that you would be interested, no idea what would catch your interest, no concept of how to make you care. I feel we have more hope of achieving things at local level, through local politicians, lobbying nearby businesses, engaging local people and using social media. With my five things, I feel we have a real chance of change, from the grassroots up.

Like this:

A few days ago, in a fit of frustration, I churned out a quick post about parking. Exciting, huh? But to my surprise it’s received over 11,000 views and generated a whole lot more Twitter traffic than I’ve ever had before.

So, what gives? Sure, in the UK we love our cars. We talk about the traffic almost as much as we talk about the weather. Victoria Coren Mitchell, presenter of Radio 4’s Women Talking About Cars, said the other day that for women, especially, cars represent a very special combination of both freedom and safety. For people with disabilities, cars probably mean even more in both those respects. Having only had one for six months, I love my Benjamin’s car, although I wish we didn’t have to use it so much. But I certainly don’t love parking – once I’ve got within a yard or two of the kerb I just want to shut the door and forget about it.

If this was a disabled parking bay I guess I’d be tempted to park in it too…

So, what gives? Sure, in the UK we hate being told what to do – whether by a traffic warden, or Brussels, or a yellow line on the road and a blue badge in the window. But does that fully explain why I struck such a chord (or hit such a nerve, depending on your side of the debate) with a post about parking?

My theory is, it’s because parking is one of the few everyday battle lines between the disabled and the able. In fact, it’s one of the few situations in which disabled people are actually visible in our society. Yes, the able can complain about those of us ‘scrounging’ benefits. They can complain about us giving birth to children who will be nothing but a drain on society. They can complain about the effect inclusion has on the educational achievement of their mainstream children (hint: bugger all, apart from possibly making them less judgemental than their parents). But unless you actually know a person with a disability, you are unlikely to come up against these issues every day. Yet even if you don’t know a person with a disability, you probably park in a supermarket, school or public car park on a fairly regular basis.

And that’s the root of the problem really, isn’t it. Many people simply don’t know a person with a disability – or don’t realise they do. The Disabled Children’s Partnership, a coalition of charities campaigning to improve support for disabled children, young people and families, last week launched a new campaign called The Secret Life of Us. The aim of the campaign is to change the fact that an amazing 43% of the British public don’t know anyone who is disabled.

In parking, the 57% of us who have a disability, care for someone with a disability, or know someone with a disability, come directly up against the 43% who, through no fault of their own, don’t think they know anyone with a disability. The former know all too well the need for disabled bays, and cannot understand why anyone else would park in such spaces when they are so clearly needed. The latter cannot see the need for disabled bays, consider them an unearned privilege – particularly if we are not in a wheelchair, do not look disabled, or have children that are small enough to lift – and don’t see why they shouldn’t use them when it suits them.

So maybe this is where we should start. At the battle line. At one of the few places where the 57% become visible to the 43%. Disabled parking spaces are all about accessibility. Without accessibility it is very hard to have inclusion. Without inclusion it’s impossible to have integration. Without integration, it is extremely difficult to foster understanding. And without understanding, well why the hell shouldn’t I use that disabled parking space to save me a couple of minutes of my valuable time as a contributing member of society popping into the shop to get a pint of milk? It’s a vicious circle.

The Secret Life of Us campaign aims to break that circle, to help us – the 43% and the 57% – get to know one another. Now, the 43% can’t do anything about this – they don’t know we exist, remember. Their hands are tied. It’s up to us, the 57%, to start building awareness, to be brave and not shy away from sharing our stories and showing our lives in all their flaws and their beauty. Because everyone’s life – disabled or not – has flaws and it has beauty.

If you read my blog (thank you!) you’ll have a glimpse of that: stressful, sometimes traumatic, hard work, rewarding, ever-changing and featuring rather a lot of bodily fluids… But there’s a lot more I can do. Everyone in my community knows Benjamin, but not everyone in my community knows that I had anorexia in my twenties. I’m in awe of friends who are becoming more open about their mental health – in person and on social media. Social media certainly has a role to play here: the ease with which we can share The Secret Lives of Us – anonymously if we wish to – makes now an ideal time to bridge the gap between the 57% and the 43%.

I’m not saying we all need to go around shouting about our bowel movements and breakdowns and whether we’ve had breakfast all day long… but if the 57% can share a little more and the 43% can listen a little more, maybe we can all judge a little less. Because parking shouldn’t be a battle line. There shouldn’t be any everyday battle lines. ‘The disabled population is the world’s largest minority of which anyone can become a part at any time.’ We are the 57% – and one day you might be too.

Like this:

This is a disabled parking bay. There are four of them at my son’s school. They are close to the school entrance and they are wider than normal bays. Doesn’t it look inviting?

This is my son Benjamin’s blue badge. I had to apply for it, and pay for it. Many disabled people have to fight for it. It entitles me to park in the disabled bays at my son’s school (and anywhere else) when I have him with me and he will be getting out of the vehicle, or when I will be picking him up and putting him into the vehicle.

These are four of the cars that were parked in the disabled spaces at my son’s school today. None of them is displaying a blue badge.

Maybe their drivers aren’t aware that although this isn’t a public road the school still enforces the blue badge scheme? Maybe they thought they had a good reason to park in the disabled bays – all four of them? Maybe they were short of time? Maybe they’re just lazy? Well, in case any of them are reading this…

Here are some of the reasons I need to park in these bays:

Benjamin comes with a lot of equipment: not just a wheelchair, but a feeding pump, suction pump, medications, syringes, nappies. More equipment than I can fit on his wheelchair, which means I have to push it with one hand. The further I have to push it with one hand, the less safe that journey is for him. If I have my other children with me, well, they just have to take their chances.

If I have to park in a normal parking space (if I can get one), it is too narrow to get Benjamin’s wheelchair alongside the car. This means I have to park it (and him in it) behind the car, in the path of other vehicles looking for their own parking spaces.

If I have to park in a normal parking space (if I can get one), it is too narrow to get Benjamin’s wheelchair alongside the car. This means I have to carry him (all 18 kilos of him) round to the back of the car. I don’t mind the damage to my back. What I do mind is the risk of pulling out his feeding tube, which won’t stretch from his seat to behind the car. If his feeding tube is pulled out, he has to undergo an operation under general anaesthetic to replace it. When Benjamin undergoes an operation under general anaesthetic, he usually comes back ventilated and in intensive care.

If I have to park on the road (which I usually do, because if the disabled bays are full you can bet it’s because all the non-disabled bays are full), all of the above apply, plus I have to carry Benjamin out into the path of oncoming traffic.

If I have to park on the road, the likelihood is someone else will park so close up to the back of my car that I won’t be able to open the boot, let alone get Benjamin’s wheelchair into it.

One of Benjamin’s problems is that he cannot control his own temperature. In the extra time it takes me to get him out of a warm car into his buggy and under a blanket if the buggy is at the back of the car and not beside the door, he can become hypothermic. In the extra time it takes me to push the buggy from the main road to the school, he can become hypothermic. An extra couple of minutes in the cold can mean several hours of struggling to get his temperature and heart rate stabilized at a normal level.

If Benjamin becomes suddenly ill, which he does, often, without warning, and dangerously, I need to be able to pick him up and get him into the car and off to hospital, pronto. I may not have time to wait for an ambulance. I may not have time to drive around looking for a parking space, walk round the corner from that parking space to the school, and push Benjamin back round that corner to the car. Minutes count.

Here are some of the reasons you may not need to park in these bays:

You are not disabled

You don’t have a blue badge

You don’t have a disabled child

You don’t have a pile of medical equipment to transport

You can walk 100 yards without getting hypothermic (no, that’s not an exaggeration)

You can self-transfer to your car seat

You don’t need to get a wheelchair into your boot (God forbid need enough space to use a ramp or hoist…)

Now, you may think ‘I’m only parking there for a minute.’ But if that minute is the minute when Benjamin and I arrive at school, you’ve put us in an unsafe situation for the whole day.

You may think this is a small, petty issue. But this issue puts my son, and many others like him (after all, this is a school with a special unit attached that caters for children with severe and complex needs from across the county) at risk.

Like this:

It has not been a great week. Friday night I finally worked out (with the help of a head-torch and strong stomach) what had been keeping my five-year-old (and therefore the rest of the family) awake for large proportions of the last couple of nights: threadworms. Cue a weekend of swallowing foul-tasting medicine (okay, banana-tasting, but I don’t like bananas so it tasted pretty foul to me), nail-cutting, disinfecting, hoovering, and washing every damn sheet, towel, and pair of pants in the house.

About six loads into the approximately twenty loads of washing that needed doing (why my husband needs to keep six pairs of jeans on the go at the same time is beyond me), the trusty washing machine gave its last gasp and went to Hotpoint heaven. Well, you have to laugh don’t you? Off to the shopping centre for a new washing machine and some more pants.

If we huddle together maybe she won’t wash us? (I did)

The day the new washing machine was delivered, which also happened to be the day the temperature went down to -1 degrees outside and it snowed a blizzard, and the day Benjamin was back home from respite, our central heating thermostat decided the washing machine was having far too much fun up there and headed off to join her. Cue another sleepless night waiting up for the British Gas man and making sure Benjamin was not alternately freezing to death or catching fire due to the slightly rickety electric heater we set up in his room.

Perhaps surprisingly to those who know me, I actually did manage to stay positive through these tribulations, despite a niggling sinus infection and a baby who still decides to feed for five hours a night, because I know they were really nobody’s fault and I could make a plan to resolve them. I always feel better if I have a plan.

What does upset me are the things that I have no control over but somebody else does. The things that just aren’t fair. The things where people just don’t think. The things that make our life – already stressful, exhausting and expensive – just that little bit more difficult. The things that, on a good day, I can shrug off, but on a bad day tip me over the edge.

The neighbour who consistently parks her car overlapping our disabled space, sometimes so close that I can’t even open the boot, let alone open it wide enough to get a wheelchair in.

The parents without blue badges who fill the disabled parking spaces next to my daughter’s nursery, and those who do the same at my son’s even though it has an SN nursery attached so clearly they are going to be needed.

The parents who think it’s okay to leave their towels and clothes ‘bagging’ the only disabled changing cubicle at our local swimming pool while they shower, so I have to wait with a dripping, freezing five-year-old, or leave Benjamin outside the cubicle blocking the gangway, or confront them and risk their (sometimes vitriolic and frankly foul-mouthed) wrath on their return from the shower.

The medical secretaries who repeatedly ignore and refuse to return my worried calls.

The paper-pushers who drip-feed us form after form over week after week, while they mark Benjamin up against their secret criteria to decide whether he is entitled to medical support to enable him even to attend the nursery placement to which he is legally entitled.

The last straw…

But these are minor niggles, really, compared to the worms, ohmygod the worms those that many SN parents (and carers) face. Parents who feel compelled to take horribly drastic measures because they see no other way to get their child the support that he needs. Parents who have to go to court to get the right school, the right house, or the right care for their child. Parents who need physical protection from their own children. Parents who risk losing their homes because they cannot work to pay the mortgage. Parents who aren’t believed that their child has needs because they behave perfectly at school but let all their emotions out at home. Parents who have been allocated respite but have no one to provide it; parents who desperately need respite but have been refused it. Parents who have to fight every step of the way just to ensure their child is healthy, happy and included and their family stays together and has the energy to fight another day. And these parents still put a brave face on it and support each other because that’s what we do.

And they are minor niggles because, for every one of the people who make our lives difficult, there is always at least one who makes it easier.

The washing-machine man who fitted our new machine with a cheery smile and a knowing nod. The boiler-man who came out in the middle of the night and returned the next day with a brand new, all-singing all-dancing internet-enabled thermostat. The friends who volunteer to hold (and jiggle) Caitlin while I get Jackie changed after her swimming lesson, so that I have one less child to keep an eye on. The neighbours who look out for us and invite us over for coffee. The agency carers who come in on their day off and spend time encouraging Caitlin to walk and listening to Jackie chatter as they take care of Benjamin’s needs. The lady at the council who actually listened to our problems, understood, and promised to do something about them. The hospice staff who arranged a photographer to take some family photos for us, and the photographer who refused to charge for them.

New washing machine (and expert washing machine selector)

So we’ve got through this week with our humour (if not our wallets) intact. With a few more grey hairs and bigger bags under the eyes. There is still enough in our lives to smile at and plenty to laugh at. Often it’s not about money and limited resources, it’s just about thoughtfulness, consideration and an inclusive attitude. Just don’t mention the worms.

Like this:

I am fortunate to have an incredibly understanding, flexible, patient employer. They have allowed me to cut my hours down to almost nil; I am secure in the knowledge that I can increase those hours again when my caring commitments allow; I am kept abreast of developments in the workplace; and I am welcomed with open arms every time I – and one or more of my offspring – deign to make an appearance in the office.

So when I was asked – I’m not sure if it was ironically or strategically – to take part in a committee focusing on gender equality in the work place, I was very happy to contribute. The first test of equality I proposed was that the only way I could make committee meetings was to bring Benjamin with me…

So, we toddled off into work. People held doors open for us and offered to carry the buggy up stairs. I parked Benjamin in his buggy in one corner of the board room. We received just the right amount of cooing to make me feel special but not enough to disrupt the meeting. Everyone politely ignored Benjamin as he snorted, coughed and grunted his way through the hour (fortunately he didn’t cry). I was enabled to contribute to the meeting and to care for my child.

Afterwards I popped in for a quick chat with my line manager. Benjamin threw up banana milk all over her office: she didn’t bat an eyelid and even asked if she could give him a cuddle afterwards.

**

There are three rail companies running on the line between my home and my office. I was unfortunate enough to catch a train home on the least accessible one. I struggled up the high step into the train with the buggy. I parked it in the wheelchair space because – although it’s an ordinary buggy not a wheelchair or an official special-needs buggy – it has been specially adapted for Benjamin by a wonderful engineer called Derek at Wheelchair Services. He (Benjamin, not Derek) is safer and more comfortable in it than on a rail seat or on my lap, and it is the only place I can safely sit him if I need my hands free to tube-feed him.

So, I argued with the guard who insisted that my “buggy” should be folded and moved to a different coach. I blushed in front of the other passengers witnessing this argument but probably not hearing the ins and outs of it and thinking I was just an obstinate mother. And then I stood, wedged against the back of the seat in front, to administer his tube feed, because train-designers clearly do not think that disabled people deserve to sit next to or talk to anyone else while on a train, but position them on their own, with only the luggage rack for company.